Accra, June 7, GNA - The Gold Field Ghana Limited on Tuesday announced a capital injection of 45 million dollars to expand its Damang Gold Mine in the Western Region.

The injection, which would commence in July this year, is to cut back on the existing Damang pit for over a five-year period to extend the life span of the mine to two more years.

Announcing this at a press conference in Accra, Mr Bredan Walker, Managing Director of the Company, said the project was expected to mine over 600,000 ounces of gold.

He said feasibility studies carried out by geologists revealed a lot of potentials in the area adding: "The cut back will make yields of 9.2 tonnes of ore at a grade of 709 kilo ounces". He said that since the project would be contained within the current disturbed land footprint of the Damang mine site, it would not require any additional lands, payment of crop compensation and community disturbances.

Mr Walker said the Company since its inception in 1993 had injected 740 million dollars in the country with about 35 million going into social responsibility in the last four years. Tarkwa Gold Mine, the biggest mine engine of the Company, had also seen a capital investment of about 225 million cedis in the last two years.

Mr Walker said every effort and caution would be taken to ensure that the Company incorporated all the current safety systems and policies in the project.

He announced that the Company was developing a Health and Safety Management Systems to conform to international standards.